According to P.M. News, the African Refugee Foundation (AREF) was founded by its president, Ambassador Segun Olusola, and is a partner organization of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) (15 Feb. 1999). The "institutional mandate" of the AREF is reported to address the root causes of conflict "with a view to designing appropriate early warning mechanisms and proactive strategies." (ibid.).

P.M. News reports that in February 1999, the AREF was supported by the European Union to organize a number of public activities under its Democracy-in-Peace initiative, whose primary purpose was "to promote a culture of peaceful politicking and orderly transition in Nigeria by strengthening the peace building capabilities of civil society towards sustaining the bases of democratic order in the fourth republic.

In June 1999, AREF unveiled a plan to organize a "a convocation" entitled "Refugees Do Not Drop from the Sky" to mark the annual Africa Refugee Day which takes place every 20 June (Post Express Wired 18 June 1999). In 1998 AREF initiated an income generating program called African Garments for African Refugees and Displaced Persons (AGAR), with the object of making "AGAR products and services available locally and internationally to individuals and corporate bodies" (ibid. 30 Nov. 1998).

Additional or corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please see the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Post Express Wired [Ikeja]. "AREF Unveils Plans for 1999 Africa Refugee Day." http://www.postexpresswired.com/po[Accessed: 6 Aug. 199]

_____. 30 November 1998. Joke Kujenya. "African Refugees Foundation Embarks on Revenue Generation Drive." http://www.postexpresswired.com/po>[Accessed: 6 Aug. 1999]

P.M. News [Lagos]. Igho Akeregha. "AREF Organizes Democracy-in-Peace Initiative." (NEXIS

Africa Confidential [London]. June 1998-June 1999. Vols. 38-39.

Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural Series [oxford]. June 1998-December 1998. Vol. 35. Nos. 6-12.

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 1998. 1999. United States Department of State. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office.

Keesing's Record of World Events [Cambridge]. June 1998-April 1999. Vols. 44-45.

West Africa [London]. June 1998-January 1999. Nos. 4192-4201.

One oral source consulted did not provide information on the requested subject.